In 1969, desperate to escape my crappy job at a Daitch Shopwell supermarket, I secured a better crappy job in my Yorkville neighborhood. Ben’s Meat O’Mat was a mom and pop butcher/grocery store, except there was no Mom and no Pop, just two oafs named Pete and Harry. They weren’t twins, but they could have… Read more »
Dad used to hunt. He didn’t golf, so hunting was his made-up reason for getting out of the house. He never struck me as the hunting type, but once or twice a year he’d take off for upstate for a long weekend. It was a Yorkville sort of man-thing in the 1950s and 60s. One… Read more »
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself Any direction you choose. Oh, the Places You’ll Go! ~ Dr. Seuss After a two-week hiatus, I’m back! It was a much-needed break. My husband Ross and I were on a seriously exhausting apartment hunt. Finding an apartment in New… Read more »
I’m excited to announce that next Friday, April 13th, The Del-Satins are performing at St. Stephen of Hungary on 82nd Street. Original members Stan Zizka, Les Cauchi, and Tommy Ferrara and featured member Edie Van Buren will perform all their hits. Sadly, Fred Ferrara, one of the original Del-Satins, passed away last year but will be there… Read more »
Got into a sparkling new cab this morning. The seats, dashboard and windows shined. Riding my finger along the metal detail on the passenger door, I thought, the only time Rory and I were ever this clean was for one lone hour at a photography studio on 3rd Avenue in spring 1960. I repel wool…. Read more »
Last week, I almost threw in the towel. Between seeing my ex in my neighborhood 32 times, the St. Paddy’s Day Parade, and a mouse infestation, I thought I was done with New York. New York City? New York Shitty! This Big City Siren was ready to pack her bags and get the hell out…. Read more »
Apparently there are other Almost Carries out there, and they are idiots. This past week the New York Post featured an article co-written by two women named Julia. I feel that I must paste it here in its entirety for you to really get the full gist: Martinis. Manolo Blahniks. Fabulous Park Avenue apartments and, of… Read more »
Just past noon, Buddy McMahon and I jumped into the parade at 61st Street joining our classmates and teachers from LaSalle Academy marching up Fifth Avenue. This was non-regulation—starting the parade late and dressed as clowns (we paid the piper with a “knuck off the head” from Brother Brendan the next day at school). We broke off at the Met Museum to run east to… Read more »
“In other parts of the country people try to stay together for the sake of the children. In New York they try to work things out for the sake of the apartment.” ⁓David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day It’s time to knock a few years off my life and find an apartment in New… Read more »
I remember the Friday after Thanksgiving when I was in kindergarten in 1959. My mother dropped Rory off at my grandparents’ place on 85th Street right after breakfast and took me with her on the 86th Street crosstown bus. She got a transfer for Fifth Avenue. I didn’t need one. I was still “little enough to ride for free, little enough to… Read more »
